G. Edward DeSeve, who is coordinating efforts at the Office of Management and Budget to implement the economic stimulus package, refuted what he argued are false reports of fiscal misuse and wasteful spending in a Tuesday evening blog post. His list of "10 Recovery Act Myths" came on the heels of last week's unprecedented release of information on Recovery.gov and increased interest in the specific types of projects being funded.
Among the myths is a report that $11 million in stimulus funds are being used to build a bridge connecting two Microsoft campuses in Redmond, Wash. DeSeve argues that only about half of that amount is being used for this project, which he called "a vital transportation project strongly supported by both state and local officials in an area that supports over 44,000 jobs." It emerged as the region's top priority after a rigorous, competitive review, he said.
Here are the rest of DeSeve's favorite half-truths and falsehoods:
• Funds are being used to renovate a train station that hasn't been used in 30 years.
• Funds are being used for a snow-making facility in Duluth, Minnesota.
• Funds are being used to install a guardrail for a dry lake bed in Oklahoma.
• Funds are being used by the U.S. Forest Service to breed bugs in Connecticut.
• Funds are being used to purchase a freezer for fish sperm in South Dakota.
• Funds are being used to weatherize eight pickup trucks in Illinois.
• Funds are being used to purchase 22 toilets for use in the Mark Twain National Forest.
• Funds are being used to study how children perceive foreign accents.
• Funds are being to provide a tax credit for golf carts.
Read his detailed explanations here.
After overcoming many challenges, the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board launched its new and improved Recovery.gov Web site on Monday. Earl Devaney, who manages the site and oversees economic stimulus spending, explains in a video message [click here] how the site will provide citizens with accountability and transparency. Recipients start reporting quarterly on Thursday and by Oct. 15 the board will post all data associated with contract recipients. Grant and loan data will be posted by Oct. 30, he said. Read more in CongressDaily's PM Edition here (subscription required).
The White House Web team unveiled yet another Web page on Monday -- WhiteHouse.gov/Recovery -- that provides snapshots of economic stimulus package dollars at work around the country. The "Roadmap to Recovery" features details about the broad range of activity planned across the United States in the second 100 days of implementing the $787 billion federal boost. The page will also provide an opportunity for visitors to share stories through comments, photos and videos. Recovery.gov remains the go-to site for tracking Recovery Act spending, officials said. "What we want to do is we want average Americans as they're watching this happen this summer, as they're watching it happen in their neighborhoods, the parks they're visiting, whatever, we want them knowing that what we're doing is fully transparent, we're fully accountable, and we want them to watch us closely, and we want their input," Vice President Biden said.
In other transparency news, House Minority Leader John Boehner continues to pummel President Obama over his pledge to post non-emergency legislation online for five days before signing it into law. To date, Obama is one for 23 in providing that review period, Boehner's office said. "No one - not a member of Congress, anyone in the administration, or any American - read the trillion-dollar 'stimulus' spending bill before Congress passed it and the President signed it into law," Boehner said in an e-mailed statement. "If the public had some time to review the bill, perhaps the American people would have discovered that it authorized the AIG executive bonuses, sent checks to the deceased, and paved the way for some truly astonishing government waste." The GOP leader has pressed for a 72-hour mandatory minimum public review on spending legislation.
Amid continued banking industry belt-tightening, the Financial Services Roundtable has acquired the Financial Services Technology Consortium, the groups announced Thursday. The consortium, which sponsors non-competitive collaborative research and development of interbank technical projects affecting the financial services sector, will become a division of the Roundtable, which represents 100 of the largest integrated financial services companies. The merger creates a Roundtable Technology Group that will allow the best practices and technology policy developed by the Roundtable's BITS division to be translated into technical solutions by the FSTC division, providing full stewardship to member companies, according to a press release.
"The total is greater than the sum of the parts," Roundtable CEO Steve Bartlett said. "Having BITS and FSTC under one umbrella will dramatically provide better resources for less overhead. We are pleased that FSTC's relationship with the vendor community will bring another unique element to the Roundtable." Historically, BITS and FSTC have collaborated while maintaining separate but similar memberships. By combining the organizations, the merger will eliminate redundancies and streamline resources within the financial services industry, as well as formalize the pipeline of BITS-developed business requirements into FSTC's technical development projects, the groups said. Neither group has planned layoffs but the Consortium will reduce its use of contractors.
Organizers of a week-long online dialogue focusing on the federal government's economic stimulus-tracking Web site Recovery.gov are embracing new Web technologies to spread word about their forum. During the course of the Internet conversation, which begins Monday and is hosted by the National Academy of Public Administration, participants are encouraged to "submit ideas on website design, data collection, data warehousing, data analysis and visualization, waste, fraud, and abuse detection, and other topics that are key to achieving greater transparency and accountability." The online discussion will be the first step in soliciting ideas for the structure of the Web site, which is intended to let taxpayers see how stimulus funds are being spent. Read CongressDaily's recent story here.
Earl Devaney, chair of the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board, and Ed DeSeve, special advisor President Obama for stimulus implementation, are circulating a letter they hope will generate widespread interest in the project from the public as well as state and local partners, potential stimulus recipients and solution providers. Participation from the blogging community is critical to the success of this initiative, they wrote. Their team created a one-page summary of the IT dialogue that bloggers can copy and post. They also encouraged potential participants to follow the conversation via microblogging tool Twitter {@natldialogue / http://twitter.com/natldialogue}or on the "Recovery Dialogue: IT Solutions" Facebook group. As of Thursday afternoon, the Twitter page has 273 followers and the Facebook group has 100 members.
From CongressDaily's AM Edition...
The Obama administration is soliciting suggestions from information technology professionals, vendors and members of the public who think that its economic stimulus-tracking Web site needs a makeover. Beginning Monday, the team that administers the stimulus Web site Recovery.gov will host a weeklong forum -- conducted entirely on the Web -- to encourage participants to "submit ideas on website design, data collection, data warehousing, data analysis and visualization, waste, fraud, and abuse detection, and other topics that are key to achieving greater transparency and accountability," according to organizers. The "online dialogue" will be conducted on a message board manned around the clock by moderators from the National Academy for Public Administration, a nonpartisan advisory board charged with vetting proposed and existing government programs. Read the full story here (subscription required).
The Progress and Freedom Foundation is postponing its popular annual policy summit, which was to be held this August at Robert Redford's swanky Sundance Resort in Utah. PFF President Ken Ferree cited the nation's ongoing economic woes as the rationale for pulling the plug on the popular outside the Beltway event. "We do not think it prudent to spend our supporters' money, or ask others to spend scarce dollars, on a lavish conference at a remote facility," Ferree said in a press release. He said the free market think tank intends to reschedule the conference when economic conditions improve, and in the interim use its resources as efficiently as possible on local events and publications. The summer retreat for lobbyists and policy experts had been held in Aspen, Colo. for 14 years before the group decided to relocate for 2009.
The conference theme was supposed to be "A New Deal for the Digital Age" to set the stage for a searching inquiry about policy priorities in the Obama administration. Panelists and keynote speakers intended to discuss the future of public policy in the fields of communications, intellectual property and e-commerce. The summit is known for attracting big name speakers like former FCC Chairman Michael Powell, Sun Microsystems' Jonathan Schwartz, Google CEO Eric Schmidt and Viacom founder Sumner Redstone. A PFF spokeswoman said in the near term, the organization will revitalize its congressional seminar series and is planning several events focused on the Internet, telecom industry and online child safety. The luncheon event examining the way forward for the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, which coordinates the administration of the domain name system, is scheduled for April 24.
Creativity and innovation can be the cornerstone of U.S. economic development and the Obama administration is going to work to make sure the country continues to protect that critical resource, newly confirmed U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk told an audience at Howard University on Wednesday. "We know the world is hungry for American ideas," he said, adding that 95 percent of the world's consumers live outside the United States. "This [economic] crisis wasn't made in a day and it's not going to be solved in a day," Kirk said at a forum on intellectual property hosted by the National Foreign Trade Council's Global Innovation Forum and Howard's Institute for Entrepreneurship, Leadership & Innovation.
Having a "thoughtful, progressive rules-based trade program" for the United States can help restore the economy, Kirk said. "America's ideas can help turn our economy around and we can do it sooner rather than later," he said. Trading partners must commit to actions that will allow for a level playing field while protecting and enforcing IP rights and making sure there are market protections in place for U.S. investors. Meanwhile, they must respect international labor and environmental standards, Kirk said. Obama wants an enhanced focus on enforcement of existing rules through all the trade tools officials currently have in their arsenal, Kirk said, but the administration is also not afraid to file complaints with the WTO as a last resort.
The unemployment rate for U.S. engineering and computer occupations is rising at a faster pace than for other professional occupations, according to data released Friday by the Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics. An analysis of the data by IEE-USA, an organizational unit of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, found the unemployment rate for all engineers grew from 2.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008 to 3.9 percent in the first quarter of 2009.
For computer occupations, the unemployment rate went from 3.3 percent to 5.4 percent including a jump from 1.9 percent to 4.2 percent for out of work software engineers and an increase of 5.7 percent from 3 percent for unemployed computer scientists and systems analysts. The quarter-to-quarter rate for all professional workers increased from 3 percent to 3.7 percent. Northwestern University professor Shane Greenstein said in an email that the data shows "the recession has started to shape employment in the parts of the economy where employment and wage growth had been strong." The recession has started to hit both sides of high-tech labor markets: the demand for workers in R&D and IT production (such as electrical engineers) as well as in information management and integration (such as computer managers), Greenstein said.
Information Technology and Innovation Foundation President Robert Atkinson said the numbers reflect that the "sectors most affected by the downturn tend to be ones that employ engineers and computer scientists." Durable goods manufacturing is more cyclical and employs more engineers and computer scientists, therefore there are higher unemployment numbers. He and Ralph Hellmann, a lobbyist for the Information Technology Industry Council, hung some hope on government investments in technology. "There is a general softening in the market for these types of jobs, but it could start to pick up as the stimulus bill is implemented and the various health IT, broadband, energy grid, and increased science funding programs get ramped up," Hellmann said. -- Winter Casey
Technology CEO Council Chairman Mike Splinter has some words of wisdom for President Barack Obama has he heads to the G-20 Summit in London on Thursday -- his first big international gathering since becoming commander in chief. Splinter advised Obama in a weekend letter to urge the other G-20 nations to adopt economic stimulus plans that promote investments in critical national infrastructures, as the U.S. did with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. He also asked Obama to fight for open markets, recommit to a new Doha Round of trade negotiations and fend off protectionism.
"Along with unprecedented challenges, you have an unusual opportunity to help lead the world toward a more secure future. This will not come easy," wrote Splinter, who is CEO of Applied Materials. "The world's political leaders are confronted by severe economic anxieties at home, and these concerns are driving many countries toward protectionist measures... Unchecked, each nation's efforts to close off its own economy and advantage its own domestic industries will harm all nations." Fifty years from now, generations will look back at how the United States responded to the fears and crises of 2009, he wrote, noting: "Whether we react to short-term political pressures or invest in long-term reforms will determine how history judges us."
Read the full letter to Obama after the jump...
The U.S. high-tech sector has weathered the economic storm better than most industries, Technology Association of America President Phil Bond told reporters at a Monday press conference to unveil the trade group's annual state-by-state overview of the technology business. While the 2009 outlook remains clouded with uncertainty, "we're convinced that the tech sector is positioned to contribute to the U.S. economic recovery," he said. Bond other officials from the organization, which was formed when the Information Technology Association of America and American Electronics Association merged, laid out a number of facts and figures to support their notion.
In crafting the economic stimulus bill, Congress and the Obama administration embraced the transformative power of technology for building the infrastructure for the 21st century; modernizing education and healthcare systems; and creating smarter and more efficient ways to use energy, officials said. "We believe it when we say future begins here," Bond said. "We think public policy in the United States has underscored that innovation is America's greatest resource."
According to the 2008 Cyberstates report:
• The U.S. high-tech industry employment was up for the fourth straight year in 2008, adding 77,000 jobs, a 1.3 percent increase.
• Tech sectors adding jobs included software services (+86,200) and engineering and tech services (+26,600).
• Tech sectors shedding jobs included tech manufacturing (-23,100) and communications services (-12,700).
• Nationwide, average high-tech wages were 88 percent higher than the average private sector wage.
• Unemployment rates inched up for several tech occupations in 2008, but remained relatively low - 2.4 percent for computer scientists and 2.5 percent for engineers.
A $986,796 grant from the Department of Labor will assist approximately 249 workers affected by layoffs at Hewlett-Packard in Corvallis, Ore., the agency said Friday. HP announced on Aug. 20, 2008, that layoffs were pending at the facility and the first dislocation event followed less than a month later. Another round of layoffs is scheduled for May 30. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis said the downsizing represents "a significant loss of production workers in this region of Oregon" and the federal infusion will let affected employees access the necessary training and services to find work soon.
The grant money will be awarded to the Oregon Department of Community Colleges and Workforce Development. All of the targeted workers also have been certified as eligible for trade adjustment assistance. Under the grant, workers will have access to services that are not available through the TAA program, including skills assessment, counseling, case management, job-search assistance, job-placement assistance and follow-up services, the agency said. The nonprofit Community Services Consortium will oversee the grant.
Corvallis Mayor Charles Tomlinson thinks the next chapter for HP's campus could be in biotechnology, according to the Albany Democrat Herald. Tomlinson had no comment about whether he'd been in contact with HP about future plans, but said it's no secret that 235,413 square feet of industrial space is available for lease.
The office of Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., believes their boss is the first member of Congress to show how federal recovery funds will be spent in her congressional district to stimulate the economy. Matsui will post an interactive Google Map on her Web site today to show where the funding received from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which President Obama signed into law on Feb. 17, is going in Sacramento. The office said Matsui plans to update the Web site as new funds become available to her district in the future.
"Transparency and accountability have been key components of the economic recovery bill, as such; I have posted a running list of programs and projects that have received funding from the stimulus package on my website, and a Google Map showing where the federal money is going throughout the Sacramento area," said Matsui in a statement. These funds are being dolled out in significant sums to recipients working on efforts that include public safety programs, the evaluation of direct geothermal feasibility and solar photovoltaic systems to reduce energy costs, public housing programs, electric cars to transport disabled visitors, and transportation and sidewalk improvements. -- Winter Casey
In an effort to pull the American media business up from its downward spiral, alternative financing models beyond Web advertising continue to be floated. One of these proposals concerns the idea that a fee or tax could be placed on Internet service providers. "There has been a growing attention to this as the advertising supporting models have weakened over the last six or seven months," said David Ardia, director of the Citizen Media Law Project at Harvard University. The ISP proposal recognizes that "there are some businesses that benefit from the digital distribution of content" such as ISPs, which "are in a good position to transfer money to content holders," he said. Under such a model, the government could collect the fees and divide the money among content creators or ISPs could collect a fee from users and distribute the money themselves.
The U.S. Internet Service Provider Association's Kate Dean gave the ISP proposal a chilly reception. "Every business model has had to adapt to new technologies and that includes ISPs. And this is a time of great change and great opportunity to interfere with this process through regressive taxation is ill advised," she said. Amy Mitchell, deputy director for the Project for Excellence in Journalism, raised the ISP idea during an interview on WAMU's Kojo Nnamdi Show on Monday. Another idea she mentioned is to follow on the cable television model "where the provider charges a kind of subscription fee and any news outlet that it is going to contain inside its walls they have to pay a little bit of money for so some of the fees they collect ends up going out to the news organizations." -- Winter Casey
Watchdog group Media Matters has launched a new Web site called Financial Media Matters, a project "dedicated to holding accountable those who report on the financial and business industry as well as those who report on labor, economic, and other fiscal matters." The organization created the site because it believes reporters have consistently offered false or misleading coverage of the causes of and proposed solutions for the current economic crisis. "Many journalists, both in the financial and mainstream media, have failed to critically examine the issues and instead have simply repeated partisan spin -- from using the phrase 'Obama Bear Market' to touting CNBC on-air editor Rick Santelli's rant as being 'populist,'" Media Matters said in a Monday press release. Among those in the site's crosshairs: CNBC, Fox Business Network, and The Wall Street Journal. "As people across the country struggle with losing their jobs, losing their homes, and losing their nest eggs, Americans are depending on the media -- especially the financial media -- for answers," Media Matters President Eric Burns said.
As the economy worsens and the publishing world struggles to regain footing, Crain Communications has given pink slips to at least three top journalists in its Washington office, according to sources within the company. The privately-owned business publisher shut down RCR Wireless News, a publication that covers the wireless industry, last week. The publication's bureau chief, Jeff Silva, is leaving the company and a source within the firm said he did not think any reporters for the publication were spared. RCR Wireless News had 50,000 print subscribers and more than 100,000 Web visitors per month. "The market for the wireless industry has been hit particularly hard and we needed to direct our resources in other directions," the company's chairman Keith Crain said in a statement.
This week, Crain Communications told its staff that they were cutting Washington reporters for three publications: Advertising Age, which focused on advertising, marketing and media; Television Week, which billed itself as the community newspaper of the television industry; and Automotive News, the newspaper of the automotive industry. In recent weeks, Crain has also closed Financial Week, financialweek.com, Automotive News Europe and Business Insurance Europe. Ira Teinowitz, who was bureau chief for Advertising Age and also covered Washington for Television Week, is leaving the company and Harry Stoffer, a reporter with Automotive News, has also been let go.
"Washington is not the only place getting cut for Automotive News. We also lots a Nashville person, a West Coast reporter I am told, we lost at least two copy editors in Detroit, we lost the IT reporter in Detroit, we lost an assigning editor in Detroit. That makes seven positions that I know of for Automotive News," Stoffer said. Concerning his layoff, Stoffer said "It's shocking, it's unfortunate. I understand companies need to cut back. I question the wisdom for my publication of taking out its Washington bureau at a time when the federal government is making the most critical decisions ever related to the automobile industry." Crain's Washington office still has 11 employees left, he said. -- Winter Casey
President Barack Obama emphasized the importance of entrepreneurship and technological innovation in remarks to small business owners, community lenders and members of Congress who visited the White House on Monday. "Small businesses don't just provide jobs -- they provide the innovations that help us lead in the global economy," he told the group, noting that smaller companies produce 13 times more patents per employee than large companies. "Now, think about it. Hewlett-Packard began in a garage. It was a small business. Google began as a research project -- small business. The first Apple computers were built by hand one at a time -- small business," Obama said.
The president added that the ongoing economic recovery and the nation's prosperity in the future depend on the success of America's small businesses and entrepreneurs. "Small businesses are the heart of the American economy," he said, noting they account for half of all private sector jobs. His stimulus plan raises the guarantees on Small Business Administration loans to 90 percent and eliminates costly fees for borrowers and lenders. The plan also includes a series of tax cuts for small businesses and tax incentives to encourage investments in small businesses. Meanwhile, the Treasury Department has launched the Consumer and Business Lending Initiative to help unfreeze the credit markets, Obama said. "We've already done a lot. But we've got to do more," he said.
House Oversight and Government Reform ranking member Darrell Issa thumped the Obama administration's transparency efforts Thursday in a letter to Earl Devaney, chair of the Recovery Act Transparency and Accountability Board. In the letter, he questions OMB guidelines that he believes contradict the president's promise of an "unprecedented oversight effort" of the nearly $800 billion included in the economic stimulus package. On Wednesday, Issa questioned Interim Assistant Secretary for Financial Stability Neel Kashkari about the feasibility of adopting a common reporting format for Troubled Asset Relief Program filings.
"Full transparency requires attention to not just what is posted online, but also how the information is posted. Information about how the taxpayers' money is distributed must be disclosed in a structured, open, and searchable format," Issa wrote in his letter to Devaney. He asked several questions about how Recovery.gov will work. He wondered how data will be disclosed and whether agencies will publish reports there or on their own Web sites. He also asked whether reports from recipients will be sent in a standard format and asked whether there will be disclosure of every transaction between every recipient, contractor, and subcontractor. Read the letter here.
Interim Assistant Secretary for Financial Stability Neel Kashkari, who testified before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Domestic Policy Subcommittee on Wednesday, said a common reporting format for filings related to the Troubled Asset Relief Program such as XBRL (Extensible Business Reporting Language) would greatly improve transparency. He previously remarked that the Treasury could not track TARP fund use, according to Oversight and Government Reform ranking member Darrell Issa.
XBRL is in place as a reporting standard in about 40 countries and banks in the United States are currently required to disclose information to the FDIC in XBRL format. The SEC recently approved a final rule mandating the use of XBRL for all public company reporting, with some firms required to comply starting in June. "XBRL is about independent and understandable transparency," Issa said. The technology could show the taxpayers how their money is being used while providing measurable results, he said.
"After two administrations and roughly six months of the blind leading the blind, we are still meeting resistance from the administration on implementing a common platform that would allow us to track TARP dollars and value toxic assets," Issa said. "These are taxpayer dollars and the technology exists to track TARP dollars, but Treasury continues to obstruct transparency." Subcommittee ranking member Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, gave the Treasury's grade for transparency an "F." "The American people who are footing the bill deserve far better than what they're getting in terms of transparency," he said.
The National Association of Manufacturers released its legislative agenda for economic recovery and job creation Monday, which features a handful of high-tech priorities. "The 111th Congress is meeting in a time of tremendous economic challenges," NAM President John Engler said in a statement. "The NAM believes that Congress, the Obama administration and the private sector are in a strong position to respond in a positive and effective way." Some of the trade groups key points include:
▪ Funding Basic R&D. Policymakers must support adequate funds for the National Science Foundation, the Energy Department, the National Institute of Standards and Technology and NASA. NAM wants Congress to fully fund legislation from the 110th Congress that authorized major increases in those agencies.
▪ Universal Broadband Deployment. Future economic growth depends on the ability of businesses and individuals to easily secure broadband services without burdensome regulations. In addition, NAM says initiatives to promote broadband deployment in unserved and underserved areas will help ensure service is available across America.
▪ Protecting Intellectual Property. Only through stronger enforcement practices, stiffer penalties and integrated government coordination through the implementation of IP legislation signed last fall can economic losses be stemmed at home and abroad. The United States also needs an efficient and effective patent system, NAM says.
High-tech giant Microsoft launched a new program Sunday intended to provide up to 2 million people over the next three years with training to help them succeed in the 21st-century economy. The announcement of the Elevate America initiative coincided with the National Governors Association winter meeting in Washington this weekend. The company will soon begin working with state governments, including those of Florida, New York and Washington, to offer training. An online resource that is already available provides access to several Microsoft training programs, including how to use the Internet, send e-mail and create a résumé, as well as more advanced programs on using specific Microsoft applications.
"At the federal, state and local level, leaders are working together to help start the engine of economic growth. The private sector provides much of the spark needed to jump-start that engine," Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire said in a statement. Florida Gov. Charlie Crist said the city of Miami has worked for years with Microsoft to bring technology training to underserved populations and the Elevate America program will help even more people at a time when new skills are needed more than ever. More than half of today's jobs require some technology skills, and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that will reach 77 percent in the next decade.
Behind the glitz and glamour of this weekend's Oscar extravaganza, there's an economic story that the Motion Picture Association of America wants told. Brad Pitt, Anne Hathaway and Mickey Rourke are all nominated for one of Hollywood's biggest awards, the trade group said in a Friday press release, but all three were also a part of an "on location" shoot that helped bring jobs and revenue to states not necessarily known for red carpet events. "Some of the biggest winners already are the workers and small businesses in states where several of the nominated flicks were filmed," said the MPAA, which frequently laments the huge financial price its members pay when their products are pirated.
An estimated $225,000 per day is added to the economy where film production occurs, officials said. In Illinois alone, "The Dark Knight" provided a boost for Chicago when production of the Batman movie injected $35 million in jobs, taxes and other revenue over two months. Louisiana benefitted from "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" while New Jersey and Pennsylvania were featured in "The Wrestler." "Revolutionary Road" and "Rachel Getting Married" were filmed in Connecticut, "Tropic Thunder" was filmed in Hawaii, and "Iron Man" shot in Nevada.
Nearly 1.5 million film industry workers -- from truck drivers to set designers and caterers to animators -- earn more than $30 billion in wages annually, the MPAA said. Plus, more than 40 states have enacted tax and other incentives to lure Hollywood productions to their cities and towns. The industry came close to being handed even more economic encouragement when the Senate Finance Committee's tax title of the economic stimulus legislation included a tax break worth up to $246 million over 11 years for investors in bigger-budget movie projects that don't necessarily qualify for incentives currently. That provision was eliminated before the bill passed Congress.
On the heels of congressional passage of the $787 billion stimulus package, brand consultancy Strategic Name Development has announced a "Name the U.S. Economic Recovery Contest." Online entries will be judged on their ability to address the following three criteria: "Uplifts our spirits; leads us from darkness to light; engages and entertains us," according to a press release from the Minneapolis-based firm whose clients include General Electric, Johnson & Johnson, Sprint, Qualcomm and many others.
To submit name ideas click here. Deadline is Feb. 27 and the best slogan will be unveiled on March 6. The winner gets a year's supply of movie tickets. To get those creative juices flowing, here are some colorful examples from SND:
▪ The Universal Reversal
▪ The Crash and Learn Era
▪ From Fizzle to Sizzle
▪ The Profound Rebound
▪ The Extreme Economic Makeover
▪ RegainOnomics
▪ Boomsday
▪ The Great Resurrection
Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J., praised federal research and development dollars included in the $790 billion compromise economic stimulus plan, saying in a Thursday interview that the package is "overall good news for science." The legislation provides for significant increases for innovation at the National Science Foundation, Energy Department's Office of Science and National Institutes of Health and would offer substantially more than a bill to ramp up federal R&D that passed the 110th Congress but proved difficult to fund.
Holt, who is a scientist by training and co-chairs the Congressional Research Caucus, said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and President Barack Obama have for months insisted that investing in science and technology can help turn the economy around. The America Competes Act "was the best we could do in the previous negotiating climate -- but [the stimulus] goes way beyond that," Holt said, noting that R&D provisions of the original House proposal have largely been sustained. "The science spending in this bill is a better job generator than most of the rest of the bill," he said, estimating that 20,000 research positions are created for every billion dollars spent.
Despite his enthusiasm for the stimulus, Holt is worried that come appropriations season, some may argue that R&D has received plenty. "Underlying this entire stimulus package is the pledge that it not increase the base. A few years from now we don't want to be in a boom-bust cycle," he said. "I hope we can avoid a boom-bust cycle but I also will welcome the boom for however long it lasts." Read a summary from Holt's office about the $22 billion in stimulus R&D investments here.
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer urged members of Congress in a Wednesday letter sent to Capitol Hill to vote for the economic stimulus package that House and Senate negotiators finalized. "We believe the final conference agreement will help families during this difficult economic time, create and save jobs, and begin to put our country back on the path toward long-term economic growth," he wrote, noting that the nation is experiencing "a once-in-a-lifetime economic crisis." He carried a similar message to the House Democratic Caucus Retreat in Williamsburg, Va., last Friday, where he spoke.
The final package includes significant investments in human capital, technology, and research and development, Ballmer wrote. That funding will help extend the reach of broadband access as well as create jobs in green technology, alternative energy, bioengineering, and advanced computing. The agreement also promotes the adoption of information technology, he wrote. "Government support for rapid adoption of information technology is essential and measurable outcomes are needed to help the administration and Congress achieve the goals of increased access, lower healthcare costs, and improved quality of care," he concluded.
Democratic Gov. Tim Kaine of Virignia didn't waste any time Tuesday launching Stimulus.Virginia.Gov, a new Web portal to gather project ideas for potential funding from the federal stimulus package, which passed the Senate 61-37 the same day. House and Senate conferees are now meeting to merge the packages, which differ considerably, with a goal of sending a final version to President Barack Obama by the end of the week.
"While we wait to learn what conditions will be placed on the federal stimulus monies received by the states, we want to start collecting ideas from all over the Commonwealth to ensure the money is spent in a timely and effective manner," Kaine said in a press release. "Every locality and citizen has a stake in our economic recovery and should have a voice in deciding how this money is spent." Citizens will be able to view proposals in a format that will be updated daily, officials said.
After the $800 billion-plus stimulus package becomes law, projects from Stimulus.Virginia.Gov will be identified that may qualify for funding. Those initiatives will be evaluated and selected through a process similar to the way the state government develops its biennial budget. In some cases, the information will be sent to localities and other appropriate governmental entities because they will be responsible for prioritizing projects, Kaine's office said. Virginia began accepting proposals the day the site went live.
Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., gave an economic pep talk to a room full of technology policy experts Tuesday night at a reception celebrating the merger of two prominent trade groups -- the American Electronics Association and the Information Technology Association of America -- to form the Technology Association of America (which is being branded as TechAmerica). "We are at a crossroads for change," Eshoo said, pointing to seismic shifts in government and the marketplace. "Those who stand still are really falling behind."
Amid ample economic uncertainty, there is trepidation and doubt in the private sector, Eshoo said. But she noted that "we know as Americans that we are a can-do people -- we have always been innovators." She stressed that Silicon Valley companies that call her congressional district home should take the lead. "You are so integral to the changes that need to be made in our country. People are hungry for it, they're starving for it," Eshoo told a crowd of about 100 who gathered at the new Congressional Visitors Center.
She was joined at the reception by Reps. Jerry McNerney, D-Calif., David Wu, D-Ore., and Darrell Issa, R-Calif.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Tuesday announced his plan to "restore confidence in the strength of U.S. financial institutions and restart the critical flow of credit to households and businesses." Core elements of the program include a new capital assistance initiative; a public-private investment fund; an initiative to reduce credit spreads and restart the securitized credit markets; an extension of the FDIC's temporary liquidity guarantee program; more oversight to help make banks accountable and.... a new Web site: FinancialStability.gov.
"We will begin immediately a process of consultation designed to solicit further input from key public and private stakeholders. Details on all programs will be posted on FinancialStability.gov over the course of the next several weeks," a press release stated. For now, the site doesn't offer much (see screenshot above). The site will eventually provide information disclosed or reported to Treasury by funding recipients as well as public companies' 8Ks, 10Qs and 10Ks. Read more here (subscription required).
It is American business, and not the government, that needs to invest in technologies to support innovation and growth, Intel CEO Paul Otellini said Tuesday before the Economic Club of Washington, D.C. "This year, we are going to see an unprecedented level of public investment in schools, bridges, roads, and healthcare. It is important.... But let me be very clear. All that investment is not sufficient. While it may help lift us out of our current crisis, it will not secure our future. By itself, it won't help stimulate the next generation of ideas," Otellini said.
"A secure future requires investment in areas that will give rise to new ideas and new industries. We can't look to government to do this. In fact, creating the future is an area where American business and entrepreneurialism has a stellar track record, one that I believe we can continue," he said. "What I am asking is that other companies join us. Companies that are willing to step up now and place investments to lay the groundwork for our future. In fact, creating the future is an area where American business and entrepreneurialism has a stellar track record, one that I believe we can continue."
Otellini backed his call up with the announcement that his company will be spending $7 billion over the next two years to build advanced manufacturing facilities in the U.S. that will produce the most advanced computing technology in the world. The initiative will represent Intel's largest-ever investment for a new manufacturing process and will support about 7,000 high-skilled jobs. Otellini said the company generates more than 75 percent of its sales overseas but carries out roughly 75 percent of its semiconductor manufacturing domestically and about 75 percent of the company's R&D spending and capital investments are made in the United States.
Continue reading Despite Economic Slump, Intel Takes A Leap.
From Tuesday's CongressDaily AM Edition (subscription required):
Big Firms Wary Of Stimulus Grants For Internet Expansion
AT&T, Verizon and other major telecommunications carriers are signaling to Congress that they are ready to pass on billions of dollars in grant money the economic stimulus package would allocate to expand the Internet to rural areas without service. Read more.
Groups Fight Stimulus Limit On Workers With H-1B Visas
Business groups and immigration advocates hope to remove a controversial provision from the Senate's economic stimulus bill that would restrict companies receiving federal bailout funds from hiring highly skilled foreign workers. Read more.
IT Stakeholders, Spared Large Cuts, Will Lobby To Restore
The Senate's compromise economic stimulus package has preserved much of the original measure's investments and incentives to spur adoption of electronic health records, although some stakeholders will still fight to restore cuts. Read more.
A couple of tech tidbits from President Barack Obama's first televised primetime press conference, which was also streamed live on the White House Web site:
On the economic stimulus package: "It also contains an unprecedented level of transparency and accountability so that every American will be able to go online and see where and how we're spending every dime. What it does not contain, however, is a single pet project, not a single earmark, and it has been stripped of the projects members of both parties found most objectionable."
On health information technology: "We've got the most inefficient health care system imaginable. We're still using paper. We're still filing things in triplicate. Nurses can't read the prescriptions that doctors -- that doctors have written out. Why wouldn't we want to put that on -- put that on an electronic medical record that will reduce error rates, reduce our long-term costs of health care, and create jobs right now?"
A government transparency group is urging Congress this week to post its massive economic stimulus legislation online for at least 72 hours before consideration. The House passed its version last month and the Senate is expected to approve its legislation -- worth about $820 billion -- on Tuesday. While there is currently no formal requirement to do so, the House and Senate should each ensure that lawmakers and citizens alike have time to review the measure before they vote, the Sunlight Foundation said.
"Because the scope and public import of this legislation demand a measured and transparent process we strongly urge President Obama to post the enrolled version of the bill on WhiteHouse.gov for five days before signing it, in accordance with his campaign promise," the group stated. "While access and feedback from the public after final passage is not as effective as providing online availability of legislation before final passage, it would still give the public an opportunity to make their views known to the president."
The private sector has "borrowed too much money, businesses and consumers alike, fueled by a lot of different things," Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer told the House Democratic Caucus Retreat in Williamsburg, Va., Friday. The high-tech executive said there is a natural tendency to want to blame somebody for the economic crisis but in reality, "we've all contributed to a culture of spending and private debt." He added that the current situation is a once-in-a-lifetime economic event but it is not unique in U.S. history. In 1929, just before the stock market crash, the private debt-to-GDP ratio was 160 percent and has been steadily increasing since almost the end of World War II, Ballmer said, according to a transcript.
"What we now have will be a fundamental economic reset. The economy is going to have to re-establish itself at a level of spending that reflects the real value of underlying assets before we can all start growing again at a healthy rate," he said. "This may not be the thing that people really want to hear, but it's certainly what we're planning on, and it's the truth on which we're basing sort of our model, if you will, at Microsoft." As part of its reset, the company announced last month that it was cutting 5,000 jobs and said it would create several thousand new jobs in areas that require investment.
To reach the reset point, Ballmer said three things need to happen:
▪ "The economy must be deleveraged. Private debt as a percentage of GDP has to be reduced. Restoring health to the nation's financial system is a fundamental part of this."
▪ "Confidence must be restored. The stimulus package, in my opinion, is vital. It will provide a cushion as we reach the reset point and it will help restart our economic engine."
▪ "America really has to return to growth that's built on innovation and productivity, rather than leverage and private debt. That must happen."
The heads of several telecommunications trade associations wrote to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Thursday night urging them to preserve the economic stimulus package's broadband deployment incentives as Democrats and Republicans continued to spar over what should stay and what should be slashed from the increasingly expensive measure. More than $9 billion in the proposal would fund Internet grants and tax credits.
"Broadband provisions in the stimulus bill should give the president the flexibility to put funds to use in ways that will most quickly and effectively create jobs, stimulate economic growth, and bring broadband to the greatest number of Americans in the shortest possible time -- not attempt to settle broad policy arguments that need and deserve more deliberate and thoughtful consideration," wrote executives from CTIA: The Wireless Association; U.S. Telecom; the Western Telecommunications Alliance; the Independent Telephone and Telecommunications Alliance; and OPASTCO, the Organization for the Promotion and Advancement of Small Telecommunications Companies.
President Barack Obama unveiled his group of outside economic advisers Friday, which will be chaired by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker and will be directed inside the White House. Several experts on the 15-member panel have close ties to the high-tech community. They include:
▪ John Doerr, a partner at venture capital firm Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers who helped launch companies like Amazon, Google, Compaq and Netscape.
▪ Oracle Corp. President Charles Phillips, who was previously with investment bank Morgan Stanley and a captain in the U.S. Marine Corps.
▪ University of California at Berkeley business school dean Laura Tyson, a former economic adviser to President Bill Clinton and author of a recent report on the economic impact of intellectual property enforcement.
▪ General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt, who has been with GE since 1982 and serves on the board of the New York Federal Reserve Bank.
"The board will provide an independent voice on intelligence issues and will be charged with offering independent advice to the president as he formulates and implements his plans for economic recovery," according to a White House press release. The group will provide regular briefings to Obama and Vice President Joe Biden and will be established initially for a two-year term.
Sen. David Vitter, R-La., unsuccessfully offered an amendment Wednesday evening to strip from the economic stimulus package a multi-billion section that would fund programs intended to spur the nationwide adoption of electronic medical records. His proposal, which failed 32-65, would have also nixed funding for other high-tech provisions including:
▪ National Institute of Standards and Technology construction ($357 million)
▪ Defense Department hybrid vehicle purchases ($100 million)
▪ NASA climate change research ($500 million)
▪ Broadband investments and deployment ($9 billion)
"It's disappointing that the Senate ignored this opportunity to show our constituents that we are truly serious about creating jobs and stimulating our ailing economy," Vitter said. He said his proposal would have pulled more than $45 billion in "Washington spending projects." Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., spoke on the floor a short time earlier, emphasizing the importance of the health IT language. While the economic trouble is top of mind, the crisis affecting the U.S. healthcare system is close behind and could be even more detrimental, he said.
From Wednesday's CongressDaily AM Edition (subscription required):
Stimulus Conference Becoming Venue For E-Verify Battle
Immigration advocates are looking at conference negotiations over the economic recovery package as the main battleground to defeat an effort to require companies benefiting from stimulus spending to verify the legal status of their workers.
Read more.
Senate Votes Down Repatriation, Hollywood Provisions
The Senate Tuesday voted down tax breaks for high-tech and pharmaceutical firms as well as Hollywood studios but added one for the battered auto industry to the stimulus package. Business groups and companies such as Dell Inc. and Eli Lilly & Co. lost their bid for a one-year, 85 percent tax cut on foreign earnings brought back to the United States.
Read more.
Stimulus Health IT Amendments Lined Up For Consideration
Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Chairman Edward Kennedy and Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., are expected to try to amend the health information technology section of the economic stimulus package to ensure that electronic medical records collect data on race, ethnicity and gender.
Read more.
Recovery.gov, a new Web site that President Barack Obama has said will enable the public to monitor how effectively the U.S. government spends and distributes the $800-plus billion stimulus package, is ready to go live, an Obama transition team member and former director of the White House Office of Administration said Thursday. Franklin Reeder told a conference at American University's Washington College of Law that the site has been in the works for six weeks and is "ready to roll" as soon as Congress approves the funding. Obama said in a speech earlier this month that "restoring transparency is not only the surest way to achieve results, but also to earn back that trust in government." The House passed its stimulus bill Wednesday and the Senate is expected to vote next week.
Currently, visitors to Recovery.gov are instructed to: "Check back after the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to see how and where your tax dollars are spent." The placeholder page adds: "An oversight board will routinely update this site as part of an unprecedented effort to root out waste, inefficiency and unnecessary spending in our government." Recovery.com points to the forthcoming dot-gov site while Recovery.net is owned by Niche Sites LLC, a Pennsylvania-based firm that runs BuyersGuide.com, a product search portal. A message on that site notes that "traffic for this domain name is available." Recovery.org offers resources for recovering alcoholics.
The House may have already passed its $819 billion economic stimulus package, which includes substantial funding for U.S. broadband deployment in underserved areas, but the Senate still has to act and there are similar provisions in that chamber's bill. In anticipation of a vote next week, a handful of experts will come to Capitol Hill Friday to offer advice for how best to include high-speed Internet incentives in such a package -- a proposition that hinges on understanding two critical issues: how broadband affects economic growth, and how the credit crisis has affected broadband investment. For event details, click here.
The Technology Policy Institute briefing will feature the latest research on the links between broadband and economic growth as well as analyst and industry perspectives. Speakers include: TPI Senior Fellow Scott Wallsten; National Cable and Telecommunications Association Executive Vice President James Assey; Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Robert Crandall; Stifel Nicolaus telecom analyst Chris King; and Northwestern University professor Shane Greenstein. A new report by Greenstein estimates that broadband adds about $10 billion per year in new GDP and another $5 billion in unmeasured consumer surplus.
In related news, NCTA posted a six-minute video on its Cable Tech Talk blog featuring the trade group's president, Kyle McSlarrow, discussing broadband stimulus language. Click here to go to the NCTA blog or follow the jump to watch the clip on Tech Daily Dose.
The economic stimulus package approved by the House on Wednesday included substantial investments in research and development -- provisions that Science and Technology Committee Chairman Bart Gordon called "timely and targeted." The allocations, which now await Senate consideration, will create high quality jobs in the short-term while making strides to strengthen U.S. competitiveness in the long-term, he said in a press release. "We need to create jobs now, certainly, but if we do not address one of the roots of the economic collapse -- our competitiveness -- we could create jobs now, only to lose them in the future to foreign competition," he said.
Some highlights include:
▪ Funding to establish the Advanced Research Project Agency, which will support high-risk, high-reward research into energy sources and energy efficiency.
▪ National Institute of Standards and Technology funding for competitive construction grants as well as money for federal programs that provide technical assistance to small manufacturers and financial assistance for small high-tech entrepreneurs.
▪ Efficient electricity grid investments, a portion of which will promote research and development, pilot projects, and federal matching funds.
▪ Funding for energy efficiency, renewable energy and carbon capture and sequestration research, development, demonstration, and deployment.
▪ NASA funding that will to put more scientists to work doing climate change research, including Earth science research.
▪ Funding for National Science Foundation grants that will put scientists to work and keep promising younger researchers in the pipeline.
A handful of high-tech executives were among the business leaders from across industries who met with President Barack Obama on Wednesday morning, sources told Tech Daily Dose. Technology CEO Council members Sam Palmisano of IBM, Greg Brown of Motorola, Steven Appleton of Micron and Mike Splinter from Applied Materials were at the table, talking about the pending economic stimulus plan. Google CEO Eric Schmidt, who served as an economic adviser to Obama on his transition team, was also at the meeting, sources said.
Obama told reporters that "these are some of the leading CEOs in the country. These are people who make things and hire people. They are on the front lines in seeing the enormous problems in our economy right now." "Their ideas and their concerns have helped to shape our recovery package and I'm grateful that they are here today to talk about why it's so important that we act and act swiftly in order to get this economy back on track," Obama said. "I am confident that we can get it passed." The House was scheduled to vote on its package, which includes a number of tech-related provisions, later in the day.
"While our economy is struggling, America possesses the strengths that we will need to lead a global recovery and create a more prosperous and secure future," Splinter said in a press release. "That is why it's essential that Congress invest in the digital infrastructure in broadband, health care and energy to create near-term jobs that will shape our economy for the next generation." Appleton said it was a privilege to be part of the dialogue, adding that the U.S. tech sector "has traditionally been a key component of our nation's economic success and further investments in technology will help drive our economic recovery."
Two citizen journalists from the popular social networking community MySpace.com and video-sharing destination YouTube.com have been invited to the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland following online contests on both sites. Rebecca McQuigg from Los Angeles and Pablo Camacho from Bogotá, Colombia will represent MySpace and YouTube, respectively, reporting to their Web fans from the summit, which begins Wednesday and will attract over 2,500 participants.
The MySpace contest asked contestants to submit a video explaining why they should be chosen to report on the meeting for the MySpace community, as well as answer one of the following questions: If you were given the opportunity to take one person (living or historical) to Davos to make an impact on the annual meeting, who would it be, and why? If you could engage the entire MySpace community in doing one thing to help make an economic difference, what would it be? Why do you deserve the chance to attend the meeting as the MySpace special correspondent, and how will your participation engage the audience? Follow McQuigg's coverage here.
Camacho was one of over 250 YouTubers who participated in the Davos Debates, sending in video replies from all over the world including Afghanistan, Canada, Egypt, Germany, Israel, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Panama, the Philippines, Russia, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States. His coverage will be posted here. Tech leaders planning to attend the conference include Intel Corp. Chairman Craig Barrett, Cisco Systems Chairman John Chambers, Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs, Google co-founder Larry Page, Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith and others.
President Barack Obama highlighted recent layoffs at major high-tech companies Microsoft, Intel Corp. and Sprint-Nextel in Monday remarks on the importance of congressional passage of the economic stimulus package that his team has been working on with Democrats in the House and Senate. Microsoft announced last week that it would make 5,000 job cuts, mainly in Redmond, Wash. where the company is headquartered. Computer chip manufacturer Intel said last week that more than 5,000 jobs would be on the chopping block. Sprint-Nextel's news that it would lay off about 8,000 employees came a short time before Obama's speech.
"These are working men and women whose families have been disrupted and whose dreams have been put on hold," he said before signing executive orders that believes will create jobs, establish energy independence and alter environmental policy. "We owe it to each of them and to every single American to act with a sense of urgency." Obama said he looked forward to signing legislation that would put millions of Americans to work. "These are extraordinary times and it calls for swift and extraordinary action," Obama said, adding that he could not promise a quick fix. No single technology or regulation will do the job, he said.
The Senate Appropriations Committee late Friday released a list of highlights of its portion of an $825 billion economic stimulus package, including $140 billion for infrastructure and science programs, $125 billion for education and training initiatives and $51 billion for energy programs. About $5 billion would go toward jumpstarting efforts to computerize health records to cut costs and reduce medical errors.
Some high-tech components:
• $9 billion for federal broadband access programs
• $40 billion for Energy Department clean energy programs
• $6 billion for federal building energy efficiency; green technology
• $14 billion for National Science Foundation research and grants
• $1.5 billion for NASA, including $500 million for Earth science
• $16 billion for school upgrades, including energy and technology
Related coverage from Friday's CongressDaily PM Edition (subscription required):
Senate Finance Committee Unveils $18 Billion Health IT Title
Along with its tax title, the Senate Finance Committee today unveiled language that would provide an estimated $17.9 billion to upgrade health information technology. Read more.
Groups Cite Several Health IT Amendments As Problematic
An amendment that the House Energy and Commerce Committee approved late Thursday as it marked up its portion of the $825 billion economic stimulus package might not sit well with high-tech industry stakeholders. Read more.
The House Appropriations Committee Thursday unveiled an $825 billion economic stimulus package that includes $550 billion in spending and $275 billion in tax cuts to individuals and businesses over two years. The proposal would provide $20 billion for health IT; $6 billion for broadband; $32 billion for smart energy grid investments; and $15 billion for new K-12 school, classroom and laboratory renovation and technology. High-tech and telecom stakeholders cheered the news.
Information Technology Industry Council President Dean Garfield said the package "uses technology to put Americans back to work, creating jobs and new spending at a time when the country needs it most." New investments in electronic medical records, increased spending on science and technology in our nation's classrooms, new and faster reach for broadband and energy efficiency are "sound and sensible ways to jumpstart the economy," he said. He urged the House and Senate to move quickly to pass the legislation.
Stimulus investments in broadband are a valuable first step toward a comprehensive national broadband effort, the Internet Innovation Alliance said. President-elect Barack Obama has shown "tremendous foresight" in recognizing the need for increased deployment and his belief that America should lead the world in broadband penetration, the group said. "Investing in broadband expansion is good for our economy and key to our future competitiveness."
The ongoing U.S. economic crisis will trim $30 billion in cumulative information technology spending over the next five years, according to a recent report by consulting firm INPUT. This will come as states and localities try to come up with roughly $250 billion in new revenue and spending cuts to align budgets to the levels that preceded the multi-year real estate boom that ended in 2007. INPUT estimates the compound annual growth rate for the state and local IT market has slid to 4.3 percent from the 6.4 percent.
"We've seen so many projects held back in this quarter that we wanted to provide some concrete estimates for companies looking at 2009," INPUT's Chris Dixon said in a press release. "State and local revenue projections from last spring just haven't held up." Dixon said the market needs federal fiscal relief for state Medicaid and unemployment funds; then it needs the credit markets to loosen so states and localities can sell bonds to fund capital projects, including major IT systems.
Thirty-seven states and the District of Columbia are facing a collective mid-fiscal-year shortfall of $31.2 billion, INPUT said. However, the 10 states with individual deficits of about $1 billion or more will likely account for $22.5 billion (72 percent) of that total. California alone will likely account for more than a quarter of the national total, the firm stated. An August/September survey of 154 city and county IT officials conducted by the Public Technology Institute and INPUT found that 13.7 percent of respondents expect their overall IT budget to increase over the next two years.
President-elect Barack Obama is expected to draw an impressive crowd for what is being touted as a major economic speech at George Mason University on Thursday -- and at least one Washington high-tech industry leader was among the guests invited by the transition team. Dean Garfield, the Information Technology Industry Council's recently named president, will be in the audience, sources told Tech Daily Dose. Garfield, who replaced longtime chief Rhett Dawson late last year, is best known for helping to sink illegal Internet file-sharing operations Grokster and Kazaa. Before joining ITI, which represents Apple, Dell Computer, Hewlett-Packard, IBM and other major high-tech companies, he was chief strategic officer for the Motion Picture Association of America.
During his speech, Obama will make the case for urgent action on an American recovery and reinvestment plan that will save or create over three million jobs while investing in priorities like healthcare, energy, and education -- all of which he believes are necessary to keep the country strong and competitive in the 21st century. Additionally, Obama will call for "an open and honest discussion" about the recovery plan and will urge Congress to move quickly, according to excerpts of his prepared remarks released by the transition team. Like many groups inside the Beltway, ITI submitted a handful of recommendations for the new administration. That document can be found here.
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer addressed the deepening U.S. economic crisis early and directly in his first-ever Consumer Electronics Show keynote in Las Vegas on Wednesday evening. Ballmer took over the top spot at the company -- and the opening night stage at the annual high-tech extravaganza -- when founder Bill Gates decided to dedicate the bulk of his time to philanthropy. His was an upbeat message for a crowd of roughly 4,000 industry insiders, analysts and media: "Even at a time when we may be tempted to temper our optimism and scale back our expectations... our digital lives will only continue to get richer."
The power of ideas and innovation will drive the country forward regardless of the economic environment, Ballmer said. "When people are struggling to make every dollar count... the choice that offers the most power, the most value for the money is the PC," he added. Consumer Electronics Association President Gary Shapiro, who introduced Ballmer, said that after a proliferation of "tough news," he was ready for some optimism and innovation. Microsoft delivered. Ballmer announced the beta availability of the Windows 7 operating system and partnerships with computer manufacturer Dell, social networking site Facebook and Verizon Wireless.
Ballmer's speech was not all somber. He joked that a number of people sent him messages before his big address, including Gates, who told him to make sure he was at CES, "not that other convention in Las Vegas" (the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo). He added that outgoing Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang sent him a message saying: "Why do you keep ignoring my friend requests on Facebook?" His keynote also featured a performance by Tripod, an Australian musical comedy act who sang about an epic struggle between playing a videogame and spending quality time with a woman.
More photos...
"Any city in the world would give their right arm to have 130,000 people come for a convention like this," Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman said in a Tuesday interview with Tech Daily Dose, reflecting on the impact of the annual Consumer Electronics Show on his city's economy. He acknowledged that attendance for this year's show is lower than in the past but said the 300 companies (of about 2,700) exhibiting for the first time at the high-tech exposition is a sign that the industry and multi-day mega-meeting remain healthy. But Goodman is concerned about the local and national economy and stressed the importance of Congress passing a "Main Street stimulus package." Such a proposal was the focus of a U.S. Conference of Mayors teleconference earlier in the day, he said. "Our city has been very aggressive in capital improvement projects and we're not putting anything on hold," Goodman said. He cited the development of a Frank Gehry-designed brain research institute and a massive new performing arts center as proof that "it's full steam ahead."
From CongressDaily's PM edition:
The Consumer Electronics Show is bracing for a smaller turnout this week as a result of the economic downturn -- and the newly elected lawmaker representing the city's suburbs is worried the shift indicates more gloom for the state's fragile economy. Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., said the high-tech convention, often billed as one of the world's largest expositions, is among the most important conventions in town. "Our bread and butter is conventions, so when attendance drops, it really hurts," Titus told CongressDaily Monday. This year's pageant of gadgets, gizmos and government-focused dialogue, which begins Wednesday with a keynote by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, is expected to draw 130,000 people. That's down from the 141,150 who attended in 2008, according to projections from the Consumer Electronics Association, which puts on the event. Read the story at CongressDaily (subscription required).
With the new year fast approaching, here's a look at some high-tech predictions for 2009. Be forewarned, the global economic meltdown is a recurring theme in quite a few doom-and-gloom scenarios -- but I'll frontload the post with intrigue rather than sorrow.
"Now with connective technologies like Facebook Connect, Google FriendConnect, and OpenID, consumers will now be able to see reviews, experiences, and critiques from people they actually know and trust." - Jeremiah Owyang, Forrester Research
"Twitter will continue to achieve legitimacy. But more than any push-channel, Twitter will give customers, advocates and critics unprecedented access to corporate personnel and vice versa." - Scott Monty, Ford Motor Company
"I believe we'll have more focused velvet-rope social networks in 2009 where the tools and the goals match verticals of interest instead of the general commons of Facebook."
- Chris Brogan, New Marketing Labs
"Exclusivity trumps accessibility. Having thousands of friends becomes 'so 2008' and defriending becomes the hot new trend, driven by overwhelming rivers of newsfeeds." - Charlene Li, Altimeter Group
"The mobile industry will see renewed interest and growth in 2009 following the success of the iPhone and developments such as the Gphone resulting in consumers taking 'PC' habits with them on the road." - Netimperative
The economic downturn apparently hasn't dashed everyone's Christmas spirits -- Internet commerce site Amazon.com announced Friday that the 2008 holiday season finished as its best ever, with over 6.3 million items ordered worldwide on the peak day, Dec. 15, which is a record-breaking 72.9 items per second.
Amazon holiday facts (as reported in a company press release):
- From Nov. 15-Dec. 10, sold one copy of Microsoft Office every 2.5 minutes
- The weight of all GPS devices sold since Black Friday equals 151 Mini Coopers
- Sold enough high-performance headphones that everyone attending the last three Super Bowls could grab a set and rock out
- Sold enough coffee to give each resident of Seattle a cup per day for two months
- Sold enough Spalding basketballs to fill three C-130 cargo planes
Amazon bestsellers (Nov. 15- Dec. 19 based on units ordered):
- Electronics: Samsung's 52-inch LCD HDTV; Apple iPod touch 8GB; Acer Aspire One netbook; Nintendo Wii
- DVDs: "Wall-E," "The Dark Knight" for Blu-ray and "The Dark Knight"
- Music: "Fearless," Taylor Swift; "And Winter Came," Enya; "Twilight" soundtrack
Meanwhile, Wal-Mart is trying to cash in on the Apple iPhone 3G frenzy by offering the device beginning Sunday. The retailer will offer the black 8GB model for $197 and the 16GB black or white model for $297 with a new two-year service agreement from AT&T or qualified upgrade, according to a press release. Wal-Mart will also match the price of any local competitor's advertised price.
Google CEO Eric Schmidt, who hit the campaign trail on behalf of President-elect Barack Obama in the weeks leading up to Election Day and now serves on his economic advisory board, appeared on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday to discuss the role technology can play in generating economic growth and job creation. He appeared alongside Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, and Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott.
"America is place where innovation drives huge business outcomes," Schmidt said. "We forget in the middle of all this doom and gloom that we have the strongest universities, the most creative people -- people coming [from] all around the world to come here." He went on to say that he believes the money the federal government is going to provide in a forthcoming stimulus package can begin to solve the nation's fundamental energy and transportation problems relatively quickly.
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